Video still from FOX 29Due to new face-recognition software, New Jersey has banned smiling in driver's license photos.

Waiting in line for a new driver's license can be unpleasant for anyone, but motorists in New Jersey appear particularly unhappy in their photos.

That's because the state launched a new face-recognition software in January that forbids drivers from making big smiles or other facial expressions in their license photos, according to The Associated Press. Wide smiles and other exaggerated expressions can confuse the software.

The software is intended to catch fraudsters, the Philadelphia Daily News said. If a new photo matches an old one under a different name, the program alerts authorities and the person can be investigated.

"That could be someone trying to steal someone else's identity to get insurance benefits, or someone trying to get out of a DUI by getting a license under another name," Mike Horan of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission told the Philadelphia Daily News. "This helps us weed out fraud."

Horan said that slight smiles are acceptable, but "hey-I-won-the-lottery-type-smiles" are not.

Fox 29 in Philadelphia reports that Pennsylvania and Delaware also use the face-recognition software, though they do not have rules against motorists smiling in their license photos.

One unhappy driver left her local Motor Vehicle Commission office without renewing her license after the office's staff couldn't adequately explain the ban.

"Your picture means a lot; it's who you are," Velvet McNeil, of Sicklerville, N.J., told the Philadelphia Daily News. "Why should we all look like androids, looking mopey? I know there are some people who don't have good driver's licenses, but I actually keep all mine."

The smile ban isn't the only New Jersey driver's license requirement that has faced resistance. In May, injunctions from the ACLU-NJ blocked the state from issuing new driver's licenses with stricter document requirements. The injunction was extended for seven more weeks in August.